Star Wars "Expanded Universe" to be ignored in future movies and TV

DTVUSA Member

Disney, who now owns Star Wars, has officially said that they will not be beholden to the previously established "expanded universe" created in hundreds of books, comics, games, toys, and other media. The only "cannon" will be the six main movies, the previous "Clone Wars" animated series, and the upcoming "Rebels" TV series and upcoming films.

I can understand why they want to do this, but I think it's a dangerous move with a high possibility of backfiring. Fans have already come to accept the characters and events in the expanded universe, and many were highly critical of George Lucas' own additions to the series and the direction he went with the prequels in particular. Who knows what they'll think of Disney's changes. I think that, if they're going to discard what has already been written about particular characters and times, they at least should come up with some alternate-universe plot device (like Star Trek did). That's a cheap move, but it's better than just ignoring what the fans are hoping to see.

Are you a Star Wars fan? Do you like the "expanded universe" or just the movies? How do you feel about this news?

Contributor

Smart move on Disney's part. If they expand the cannon to include all third party comics and other media, they have to require every writer to watch all that nonsense. Very few mature individuals with the savvy to write quality scripts will have done so, or would agree to do so in the future as a condition for employment. Anyone who is that deep into "cannon" details in guaranteed to watch every new Star Wars TV show or movie. The backfire they receive will be criticism from those nerdy individuals who are out of touch with reality. That merely generates more buzz for Star Wars.

DTVUSA Member

Contributor

I'm a fan of the original three movies, and little else in the Star Wars canon, so I'd be happy if they limited the 'universe' to those films. However, all the corporate censorship you've pointed out will be a blow to fans who I'm sure have their own favorite characters from several different platforms, which no doubt trump Lucas' new characters. It is a difficult call, though. Any gargantuan franchise like Star Wars needs some curtailing and some sort of distinction between the canonical and the tribute art.

DTVUSA Member

I think he's pretty much done making movies. I suppose he wanted to make money off it, and make the decision as to who to turn it over to (and whatever he wanted to be included in those contracts) while he still could. Now he's trying to set up a museum.

DTVUSA Member

I'm a fan of the original three movies, and little else in the Star Wars canon, so I'd be happy if they limited the 'universe' to those films. However, all the corporate censorship you've pointed out will be a blow to fans who I'm sure have their own favorite characters from several different platforms, which no doubt trump Lucas' new characters. It is a difficult call, though. Any gargantuan franchise like Star Wars needs some curtailing and some sort of distinction between the canonical and the tribute art.

I agree there's a distinction between canon and tribute art. However, this isn't some internet fanfic that people made without permission. This is stuff approved and sold by Lucasfilm for the past 30 years. And they've already specifically said some things were not cannon, when they were published, which by default led more authority to the other things.